April Blood: Florence and the Plot Against the Medici

by Lauro Martines

Book Overview

One of the world's leading historians of Renaissance Italy brings to life here the vibrant--and violent--society of fifteenth-century Florence. His disturbing narrative opens up an entire culture, revealing the dark side of Renaissance man and politician Lorenzo de' Medici.
On a Sunday in April 1478, assassins attacked Lorenzo and his brother as they attended Mass in the cathedral of Florence. Lorenzo scrambled to safety as Giuliano bled to death...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0195152956
• ISBN13: 9780195152951
• Release Date: April 2003
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 1.16 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 8.8" x 5.8"

Customer Reviews

April Blood

I loved reading this book. The everyday stories of the wealthy in this period. All they wanted was to marry their children to the wealthiest families in Venice. Much blood is spilled in stabbing. The ruthless man did not care.

Every history buff should read this

I had read a little about Lorenzo and a lot about the Medici, so it was nice to come upon a book that focuses on the Medici and how Lorenzo the Magnificent ruled. Martines has done a superb job in portraying the facts behind the Pazzi Conspiracy. It starts off a little slow, leaving the reader to wonder when the author would ever get to the actual conspiracy, but when he does everything comes together. By the time the book ends you are left with both sympathy and hatred for both the Pazzi and the Medici. Sympathy because of the savage way they were attacked, following up with the nod of approval of the reprisals Lorenzo took (although they were a bit extreme). And hatred for the tyranny that Lorenzo and his house brought down upon the republic of Florence. The same for the Pazzi, for they were suppressed, and thus sympathy was on their side, but the savage destruction they wrought upon their own family and others in order to satisfy their lust for power leaves a distaste in their wake. There is some "filler", it would seem at a quick glance, but when delved in deeper it is evident that these "filler" chapters do in fact help our understanding of why and how the Pazzi Conspiracy happened. The profile chapters, although they don't touch upon the conspiracy directly, add weight to the notion and feeling that went behind the affronted patricians of Florentine society. The political chapters added substance and understanding to the why and how of the reasons behind the conspiracy. So the "filler" chapters do in fact add a lot to the telling of this dramatic time in history. All sides were represented, which makes this a very well rounded history book. I think that the Pazzi Conspiracy should be required reading for history students, and for amateurs alike, and April Blood would be a great starting point. My only complaint is that I wish Martines would have documented his sources better, rather than the more difficult to navigate way that he did. All in all, a definite recommend. 5 stars.

Envy, Murder, Revenge and High Finance

April Blood is a realistic portrait of a dynamic, intensely brutal, intensely beautiful age. The author's sharp eye brings this intimate, public world pressing in around us. The assassination attempt on Lorenzo and Giuliano de' Medici in 1478 that successfully claimed Lorenzo's younger brother and is known as the Pazzi Conspiracy ultimately, through the ensuing drama, makes Lorenzo seem more real and three dimensional. We witness the astonishing animal vigour with which the Medici faction spring upon Florence. Murderous revenge, confiscations and proscriptions were quickly and efficiently carried out. As Medici confidence in their retainment of power grows, so the grip of revenge tightens. The bitter pill swallowed during the Pazzi War that followed would not be easily forgotten, Florence was on its knees, its finances in ruins. Through the banker, merchant paper trail of the Pazzi family and seizure of their assets by the Medici, Martines pieces together an overview of fifteenth century high finance. The urbane mask of Il Magnifico is torn from his face in this riveting account, giving us in the final analysis a greater appreciation of his character and of the times he lived in.

A Real Pageturner

I picked this book up for my recent trip to Florence. Turned out to be a great choice. Easy to read and informative, April Blood tells the story of the Medici, the Pazzi, international banking and the politics, economy and society of Renaissance Florence. The plot itself and the events leading up to it are so intriguing that I'm surprised it has not yet been the subject of a movie -- this is a story that could be adapted straight from the pages of history, without embellishment and still appeal to a wide audience. As a casual reader of history, I can't comment on the historical content of April Blood, except to say that it presents a seemingly balanced view of its subjects. The book includes maps of Florence and Europe, a thorough index, family trees, and pictures of portraits and sculptures (most of which are currently on display at the Uffizi). A few passages are awkwardly worded (English is not the author's first language), but overall the book is an intersting and fun read.

brilliant study of Renaissance politics

I was astonished to see that somebody gave this book such a low review; I'm a professional historian and can firmly say this is the best history book I've read this year. In this work, Martines has performed a very important service: he has to some extent "debunked" the myth of the Medici as sweet, kind, gentle art patrons who rule by love over their equals. By focussing on the Pazzi conspiracy to murder the two leading Medici in 1478, Martines has addressed head-on the question of why so many people wanted to murder them, and how Lorenzo consolidated his position in the wake of the assassination plot. It's a dark, bloody, and very convincing Renaissance that Martines portrays, interweaving the Medici family with the Florentine and Italian political world of the time. The book is brilliantly written; after reading a library copy, I went and bought my own because I know I'll be visiting it again and again.

magnificent tyrant

Centered on the conspiracy in 1478 to kill the Medici brothers Guiliano and Lorenzo, and to take control of Florence, Martines provides a fascinating look into the politics of Renaissance Italy. In the 15th century, Italy was a chaotic blend of princely states, Papal feudal states, city- states and republics, surrounded by opponent in France, Germany and Turkey who cleverly played all sides against each other. The Catholic church's involvement was at its height, and a successful business family needed to maintain extensive trade alliances around the Mediterranean, along with political and clerical alliances, strengthened by marital arrangements and appointments in the Church.Well written, Martines does an excellent job of describing all these facets, while still maintaining a storyline as intriguing as anything Dorothy Dunnett wrote (Readers of her Niccolo series will in fact, recognize many of the characters, quarrels and subplots from her books.) The financial chapters are especially interesting, since they describe a pre-capitalist economic system that worked quit differently from our modern one. Banks, for example, were much more the tools of private families, and nations didn't exist, but were instead led by princes and kings [See Shield of Achilles] who usually lacked a secure fiscal backing, and so were dependent on ever shifting alliances and loans from individual families. The complicated nature of this system is described by Martines:"In relations with Milan, Lorenzo was the client always, and Galeazzo Maria Sforza the patron, 3even though that princely house was nearly always the debtor of the Medici Bank. On his death in 1466, Francisco Sforza owed the Medici 115,000 ducats, security for which lay in pawned jewels and in assigned salt taxes, and over the next year or two ... would rise to the fantastic sum of 179,000 ducats. The dukes, however, lords of one of Italy's greatest states, had the soldiers to defend the Medici if the need arose, always provided that the Medici maintained enough control in Florence to command the city gates. And neither the first nor the second of these points was ever forgotten."